Whilst doing my Exploded Flowers series, it occurred to me that petals and individual components of flowers are literally individual brush-strokes of nature.

So I decided to take that idea and expand it to create a floral painting, so to speak. I was also partly inspired by the excellent website Everything Is A Remix.

IPA 2013 1st Place-Gold

Glad that my Floral Portraits of Peonies, Asters, Matthiola, Roses and Tulips have been placed First in the International Photography Awards, 2013.

Seven pieces in this series have been exhibited in the National Museum of Singapore as part of the Brush Strokes of Nature Exhibition, Singapore Fringe Festival.

(The seven pieces are:

Roses, Pom Poms, Hydrangeas, Heliconias;

Gerbera, Chamelaucium;

Gloriosa, Aster, Hydrangea, Cotton, Chrysanthemum;

Rose, Eustoma, Peruvian Lily, Hydrangea;

Clarinervium, Pandanus, Pom Pom, Parsley;

Pandanus baptistii, Asparagus myriocladus, Pompoms;

Gloxinias, Eustomas, Peruvian Lilies, Bouvardias;)

Four pieces in this series have been selected to be part of the finalists’ exhibit at the SOCIETE GENERALE Gallery at Alliance Française de Singapour as part of the France + Singapore Photographic Arts Award 2012.

(The pieces are:

Rose, Eustoma, Peruvian Lily, Hydrangea;

Roses, Pom Poms, Hydrangeas, Heliconias;

Pandanus baptistii, Asparagus myriocladus, Pompoms;

Gloxinias, Eustomas, Peruvian Lilies, Bouvardias)

Floral Portraits

Hydrangeas, 2013. All Rights Reserved.

Untitled, 2013. All Rights Reserved.

Eustomas, 2013. All Rights Reserved.

Roses, 2013. All Rights Reserved.

Matthiola, 2013. All Rights Reserved.

Asters. 2013. All Rights Reserved.

Tulips, 2o13. All Rights Reserved.

Lilies, 2013. All Rights Reserved.

Peonies, 2013. All Rights Reserved.

It’s a new year, and the Chinese New Year follows close to Spring (hence the other term 春节 – literally Spring Festival). The Peony is one of my all time favorite flowers. I did not manage to include it in my Exploded Flowers series, but I hope with this piece I can do the magnificent flower justice. It is used in Chinese culture to signify Spring, as well as honour and wealth.

fqw, Jan 2013.

Flamingos

Gerbera, Hydrangea. 2013 (Flamingo with Open Wings). All Rights Reserved.

Chinese Zodiac

This piece was featured in the Straits Times during a short interview segment for the Singapore Fringe Festival 2013. I made it to celebrate the Year of the Snake. Interestingly, the branches of the plant that the snake is intertwined around is called snakegrass – pretty apt!

The next Chinese Lunar calendar year is that of the Dragon, and this is a spin on a familiar motif (which you can find just by googling “dragon motif”). The Chinese love the Dragon and it symbolises potent and auspicious powers. I’ve also placed a couple references (check the number of clouds around the Dragon) to another symbol Chinese love – number 8 (which sounds like fortune/propserity in Mandarin). Interestingly, the changeover to the Dragon year will be either on 23rd Jan or 4th Feb this year, depending on who you ask. This is all because of a discrepancy in dates for 初一 (the first day of the year for the lunar calendar) and for 立春 (the beginning of Spring). Some people say that the changeover for the 生肖 (chinese zodiac) falls on the former and others say the latter.

I find that the use of flowers for the depiction of a Dragon seems suited for the Chinese Dragon as it is usually a benevolent one rather than the Western dragons which are more aggressive.

Gerbera, Chamelaucium

Gerbera, Chamelaucium

This is a piece I did for an exhibition as part of the Singapore Fringe Festival 2013 – and was exhibited at the National Museum of Singapore.

Rose, Eustoma, Peruvian Lily, Hydrangea

Rose, Eustoma, Peruvian Lily, Hydrangea All Rights Reserved

Happy 2012! This is a special piece which I did for an interview for a TV series called A.M.P which is showing in Feb-Mar 2012. Since 2012 is a new start for people all ovr the world, I thought that this piece which shows flowers bursting into butterflies is appropriate. It is also about celebrating life and the coming of spring! Let’s have a wonderful year ahead!

Clarinervium, Pandanus, Pom Pom, Parsley

Clarinervium, Pandanus, Pom Pom, Parsley, 2011, All Rights Reserved

Another original piece in the same manner as “Pandanus baptistii, Asparagus myriocladus, Pompoms” below. A play on textures to conjure a rocky outcrop with trees against a backdrop of boulders and cliffs. I find that it is a challenge to see beyond the colours of the leaves and petals and imagine the effect as a monochrome image. The hardest visualisation for me is to see the clarinervium and pandanus leaves as rocks and boulders, while the small props like the little trees are much easier to conceptualise. Interesting to me is how forms are repeated in nature – the branching pattern of parsley mimics that of a tree on a tiny scale. I believe the analogous term for this is fractals.

Pandanus baptistii, Asparagus myriocladus, Pompoms

This is an original piece by me, which is in parts inspired by the ink paintings done by japanese and chinese artists previously. This piece is different from the other pieces in that I have used the camera’s blur to create a sense of depth in the image. By taking out the distracting colors of the leaves and flower petals, I find that the hard textures of the Baptistii leaves contrasts nicely with the delicate structures of the Myriocladus and the smooth flow of the Pompom petals. I think this technique has room for exploration.

Veronicas, Hyacinths, Pom Poms

Veronicas, Hyacinths, Pom Poms, 2011, All Rights Reserved

This piece is inspired by The Great Wave off Kanagawa (神奈川沖浪裏), one of the most recognizable Japanese artwork. I find that I can create the sensation of movement well with the physical arrangement of the petals, but the use of floral pieces somehow makes this piece more gentle.

Gloxinias, Eustomas, Peruvian Lilies, Bouvardias

This is a familiar motif to quite a lot of people – especially the Chinese. It depicts flowers and two butterflies, which signifies the spirit of two lovers, carefree. In this piece I have decided to go for a more graphic quality, to use the colours and textures of flower parts (like petals, leaves and stamens) to create this motif with a new twist.

This piece will probably make a great gift for newlyweds

Roses, Pom Poms, Hydrangeas, Heliconias

Roses, Pom Poms, Hydrangeas, Heliconias, All Rights Reserved.

This work is all about textures, and takes its inspiration from a traditional Japanese painting of a crane by Jakuchu. It is not a painting or drawing! Every single piece in this work comes from the flowers stated in the title, and is a photographic image which is of course post processed.

What I find interesting is that from far it resembles a traditional japanese painting, probably because of the colours and the textures arising from the petals. Also of note is how much flower petals resemble feathers – just seems to work well in this case for me.

Van Gogh Sunflower Remix

Van Gogh Sunflower Remix, All Rights Reserved

To start with, I decided to remix Van Gogh’s famous Sunflower Painting – remixing a painting of flowers with flowers has a meta-painting quality to it that I like!

This work was done entirely by hand, and I had to work fast too as I didn’t want the petals to wilt before the entire work was done! Thankfully, I had the help of my family in this particular instance.

Another interesting quality of this image are the dimensions that are present – the textures of the wall, vase and table created by petals give a dimension not usually present in drawings, and the real sunflowers add an increased dimension to the whole piece.

I’m studying your work for my GCSE artist study, and I think you’re work is truly inspiring! I would just like to ask what techniques you use? For example in your flower pieces, do you simply lay the components down- or do you use something to hold them in place? Thank you!